If I had to choose just one sweet, it would always be a chocolate chip cookie. I first fell for squash and dark chocolate in Gjelina’s olive oil loaf, a bake I make every year, and this season I wanted those flavors in a cookie. There’s roasted kabocha in the dough and a little warm spice, just enough to feel like fall. The chocolate is Valrhona 70%, the only one I bake with.
Bakers Notes
• I’ve used kabocha here, but honeynut squash works just as well. Unsweetened canned pumpkin purée, with no added spices, can be used too. It holds more water than roasted squash, so spread it on a few layers of paper towels for 10–15 minutes before measuring. Any leftover purée keeps in the fridge or freezer for tea cakes and quick breads.
• The dough can be made the day before. Scoop it into balls, chill them overnight and bake straight from the fridge, skipping the freezer. Once frozen, the dough balls can be stored in a freezer bag and baked straight from frozen.
• Vanilla beans are precious, so I save the pods after scraping out the seeds. Some get tucked into a jar of flaky salt, and over time the salt turns fragrant. It is so good on anything chocolate, especially cookies. If you don’t have a jar going, rub the seeds from half a vanilla bean into a tablespoon of flaky salt with your fingertips.
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Kabocha & Dark Chocolate Cookies
Description
Adapted from Lucie Franc De Ferriere
Ingredients
1 kabocha squash or 2-3 honeynut squash
1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
1½ cups (300 g) light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
1¾ cups (280 g) Valrhona 70% dark chocolate fèves
Flaky salt or vanilla bean salt, for finishing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the squash in half and place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast for 40–60 minutes for kabocha or about 30 minutes for honeynut, until very soft. Once cool, remove the seeds and scoop the flesh into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Measure ⅓ cup (80 g) of purée.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice into a medium bowl.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix both sugars on low speed for about 30 seconds. Add the melted butter and beat on medium-low speed until silky and sticky, about 30 seconds. Add the egg and yolk, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as you go. Add the vanilla and squash purée and beat until well combined, about 3 minutes.
- Add the flour mixture in two batches on low speed, scraping the bowl before each addition, and mix just until there are no streaks. Do not overmix. Add the dark chocolate and mix until just incorporated.
- Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the dough and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Line a flat-bottomed pan or container that fits in your freezer with parchment paper. Scoop the dough into large dough balls, about 100 g each, and set them in a single layer on the pan. Wrap the pan in plastic and freeze for 30 minutes to 1 hour before baking.
- When ready to bake, set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange 3 balls of frozen dough on the sheet, leaving plenty of room for spreading. Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake until the cookies are crisp around the edges and still soft in the middle, about 8 minutes more.
- Sprinkle with flaky salt. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for about 15 minutes, then transfer them to the rack with a metal spatula.
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